Hidden traps
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | Hidden traps |
| Country of production | GDR |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1990 |
| length | 85 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 6 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Rainer Behrend |
| script |
Maja Wiens Andreas Klich Gabriele Herzog (Dramaturgy) |
| production | DEFA , KAG "Johannisthal" |
| music | Peter Rabenalt |
| camera |
Eliane Rehor Hans-Jürgen Kruse |
| cut | Renate Schäfer |
| occupation | |
| |
Hidden Traps is a German psychological thriller from DEFA by Rainer Behrend . The film, shot in 1989, had its premiere in 1990.
action
Claudia and Georg Rattey have bought a run-down farm where they want to spend the summer holidays with their son Oliver. They bring the yard and outbuildings up to scratch and are now looking forward to the first summer together on the yard. When they arrive, they find their food supplies broken, the refrigerator open and a little boy lying in bed who asks them to take him prisoner and finally escapes. Oliver catches him and it soon becomes clear that the boy's name is Frank and that he has run away from the local children's home. Claudia makes friends with the idea of taking Frank over for the summer. In the home she learns that Frank still has a sister, Simone, and that they will only be released from the home together. Georg reacts sullenly to the prospect of having two strange children around him while on vacation and a first argument ensues, as a result of which Georg gets drunk. He falls off his bicycle while drunk and is almost run over by farmer Rudi.
The next morning Georg agrees to let Frank and Simone live on the farm for the summer. It turns out that both children used to live on the farm with their parents. The Dobalt parents were considered antisocial in the village, so the children were finally brought to the home on the initiative of old Mrs. Sabrowski. Simone has psychological problems, despite her age, is a bed-wetter and keeps seeing the Rattey as her drunken and brutal parents who forced her to clean the rotten yard. As a punishment, the children were locked in the cattle sheds. Frank is also disturbed, reacts aggressively when he is not allowed to call Frank father, and believes that the farm belongs to him. Again and again there are violent outbreaks or fleeing and Frank, who is barely school-age, smokes and drinks alcohol.
The director of the children's home, Ms. Lesser, knew about the behavior of the two children, but kept it quiet. She hopes that Georg and Claudia will adopt the siblings. However, the limit is full when dangerous iron traps are found in the vicinity of the farm, which also evoke dark memories of the conditions on the farm at the time of the Dobalt family in the village. The Ratteys suspect Frank. However, he knows that Oliver has set the traps and wants to blackmail him: He won't reveal anything to Georg and Claudia if they both adopt the siblings. Oliver, however, is now working specifically against the two children who are trying to alienate him from his parents. Simone falls into one of the traps and has to be treated in the hospital. The incident again keeps Georg in the yard. He fell out with Claudia after she slapped Oliver because he defended himself against Simone. When Claudia and Georg pick up Simone from the hospital, Oliver and Frank are supposed to pack their things. The two children should go back to the home, while Georg, Claudia and Oliver want to end their vacation. Frank stole the petrol can from the Ratteys' car and is distributing the petrol in the living room of the house. He threatens to set fire to the house if Oliver does not advocate keeping them in the family. When Oliver refuses, Frank sets the gasoline on fire. Both can escape from the house, which burns down to the ground. Georg, Claudia and Simone come back to the house during the fire. Oliver admits setting the traps, but accuses Frank of setting fire to the house. Everyone watched the house fire shaken.
production
Hidden Traps was filmed from September 19 to December 10, 1989. After the originally planned premiere date (November 9, 1990), the film saw previews in Halle, Gera and Potsdam. The actual film premiere took place on February 6, 1991 in Rio in Berlin . The ARD showed Hidden Traps on April 20, 1992 for the first time on television.
After Der Magdalenenbaum , Hidden Fallen was the second and last movie that Rainer Behrend made as a director. Behrend died on January 12, 1993. Child actor Nico Wohllebe had previously played a leading role in Felix and the Wolf .
criticism
Heinz Kersten wrote that director Behrend developed “horror entirely from everyday life”. Other critics wrote that the director showed a will to style, "but it became independent and was inadequate for the material."
“What could have become an exciting children's crime thriller turns into a string of picture book clichés in the cramped staging that in no way do justice to the socially critical claim,” said the film-dienst .
literature
- F.-B. Habel : The great lexicon of DEFA feature films . Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2000, ISBN 3-89602-349-7 , pp. 667 .
Web links
- Hidden traps in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Hidden traps at filmportal.de
- Hidden traps on progress-film.de
- Hidden traps on defa.de
Individual evidence
- ↑ Heinz Kersten: [ Hidden traps ]. In: Tagesspiegel , February 7, 1991.
- ↑ F.-B. Habel : The great lexicon of DEFA feature films . Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2000, ISBN 3-89602-349-7 , pp. 667 .
- ↑ Hidden traps. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .